Emily Longley: the death of a blonde

At Winchester Crown Court, Elliot Turner is accused of killing his girlfriend in Bournemouth on May 7 2011. It’s further alleged that his parents, Leigh and Anita, lied to the police to protect him.

It’s front-page news in the Daily Mirror. Why? Anyone got an idea as to why this story is on the front page of a national paper?

Emily Longley, a Kiwi living with her grandparents in Bournemouth, was good looking and blonde. Longley studied at Brockenhurst College, Hants, worked at Topshop in Bournemouth and wanted to be a model. And did we mention that she was blonde?

The bug also allegedly heard him refer to an alleged confession his won had written:

“I cannot tell them about the letter I destroyed by bleach saying he killed her but he didn’t mean it. We have perverted the course of justice by destroying evidence.”

The prosecution refers to a text allegedly sent by Turner:

“He then texted his friend, Luke Ashford, and said ‘I’m going to smash his f****** head in with a mallet’. The references to a mallet became more frequent on May 5, 6, and 7 and it turned out to be a lump hammer.”

When police arrested Turner he had, as the Mirror notes, “his passport on him and his bags packed”. He told officers: “I never meant to harm her, I just defended myself.”

Turner had allegedly told a friend:

“Elliot said he woke and Emily had her arm around him, cuddling. But he said she was stiff and her eyes were glazed over.”

The national tabloids will follow the trail another another blonde story breaks cover…

In other not front-page news:

POLICE compiled a list of 99 potential suspects for the shooting of gangland figure Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll, a court has heard. The list included some of Glasgow’s best known crime families, Albanian gangsters from London and an invididual known only as “Rainbow”. • Among the list of 99 suspects drawn up by detectives were inviduals from Glasgow and Albania – The Scotsman

A man had made a hit list of men he planned to kill in his bid to rid the world of paedophiles, a court heard. Christopher Hunnisett, 28, delivered five severe blows to Peter Bick’s head with a hammer before walking into Hastings police station and telling officers he had killed someone. – ITV

A firefighter carried out a desperate search for survivors of an arson attack at a house that killed a woman, her son and her father, a court heard. Stephen Enright said he was told people were trapped inside the house in Chatham, Kent, last September. Melissa Crook, 20, her 15-month-old son Noah, and father Mark Crook, 49, died. Ms Crook’s estranged husband, Danai Muhammadi, 24, his girlfriend Emma Smith, 21, and his friend Farhad Mahmud, 35, deny murder. – BBC